The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.

Sunday, December 09, 2012

IU's Greek Festival?

"Student Power IU" is pushing for a general strike at Indiana University come April, protesting reductions in state funding, University program management and a grab-bag of buzzwordy issues including racism on campus (seriously; they're claiming the old-fashioned, official, institutional kind, too, though I suspect it's actually an ugly echo of the odious Woodrow Wilson* and they are arguing for the continuance of special treatment; but I digress).

The organizing document is an interesting mishmash of anti-capital/anti-marketplace notions sitting uncomfortably with the belief that, since their tuition bears an increasing percentage of the cost, students should get more voice in how the university is run: do they believe you can have it both ways? It does make token nods to popular causes -- the environment, race, "the liberatory potential" of a college education -- but the overwhelming tone is one of entitlement.

They plan to strike 'cos they aren't getting everything they want at a price that suits 'em. --Now usually, when customers strike, that's called a "boycott," and they go shop somewhere else (how long would IU last if the student body departed en masse for ivorier towers? Instead of, oh, paying their tuition and then acting up?). None of that for this lot! They'll strike! Just like bus drivers, garbage collectors or electrical linesmen, they will withdraw their valuable services from society and then we'll see!

Just how long do you suppose it'll take before we're suffering from the lack of IU students? Other than the slight increase in signs waved and bong smoke, will anyone even notice? --Other than the striking students themselves, who may find the awarding of degrees somewhat delayed once they've stopped working on getting 'em.__________________________________________ * I strive to always refer to that miserable racist as "the odious," and I recommend the practice to you.

11 comments:

I doubt they realize the final cost, if they continue with their Marxist Christmas pageant.

If they think surviving on campus is an ugly event, someone should open the gates and allow them to wander into the jungle of the real world. Hopefully, they'll bring some snake boots, water and a weapon, other than a whining voice.

So, ummm....wouldn't that just open seats for other paying students to attend?

For some reason I just can't envision a picket line manned by a dozen or so spoiled yuppie kids as being very intimidating. Besides, their peers can be pretty creative as back when I attended Purdue when all the cool kids were protesting the South African apartheid gov't and decided to hold a hunger strike. The rest of us fired up the bar-b-que grills and had feasts in front of them. The hunger strike didn't last very long.

Yet The Odious still has a special place in DChttps://www.woodrowwilsonhouse.org/

An old workmate landed a position there as chief curator. His doctoral thesis was on how WW dealt with the Mexican Revolution of the time.I translated some of the original document from "gunnie" to "academic."Made sure he included the NRA in his footnotes.

Now if the Indiana Republican party were smart guys, they'd "reform" the university system by immediately reducing the number of non-teaching staff to 1990 levels, then reduce the Student's tuition cost commensurate with the reduction.

"I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions."